


The Most Sorrowful Time of the Year (Or Is It?)

by Mysterious_Fantasies



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 07:39:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17260223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_Fantasies/pseuds/Mysterious_Fantasies
Summary: Komachi ferries people across the Sanzu River during the holidays. Everything seems sad and gloomy until one particular spirit shows how bright life can be, despite all the misfortunes that come with it.((Secret Santa gift for komachisuggestions on Tumblr!))





	The Most Sorrowful Time of the Year (Or Is It?)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this story is enjoyable enough. I haven't really published and stories online before so this is a big first for me!  
> Glutton - You're a wonderful person and I'm glad to have met you and to be going into the new year with you and all our other friends! Also late Merry Christmas <3

Komachi Onozuka was lazing around before one of her busiest times of the year. She sighed, the sheer number of people who died around the holidays was extremely saddening; this should be, as she had heard many times before, the most wonderful time of the year. The shinigami looked up as her first spirit arrived. It was a young girl dressed in her Sunday best. Komachi felt bad for the poor child, having died so young, but there was nothing she could do about that. She knelt down in front of the girl, whose face was red and covered in tears.

“Hey kiddo, how’d you end up here?” Komachi reached over to wipe some tears off the girl’s face, and, surprisingly, she didn’t jerk away.

The child tried her best to answer, but could only let out incoherent sobs. Komachi did the best she could to soothe the child and took her hand.

“C’mon, let’s go ride in my boat and maybe you’ll relax enough to tell me.” The little girl nodded and let herself be led to the boat on the bank of the river. As they boarded the boat, Komachi noticed the distance of the river growing dramatically; this girl must need a long time to be able to understand what’s happening. With a sigh, Komachi climbed into the boat after the girl and began to row it across the river.

“So, what’s your name?” Komachi decided to start out easy. Most young children were able to at least share their name with her.

The child mumbled something and Komachi had to ask again, “A-Adeline,” the girl, apparently Adeline, told her nervously.

“Alright Adeline, now how old are you?”

“I-I’m six… almost seven… But I guess not anymore…” There was a pause, “Am I dead, miss?”

Komachi was surprised by this question. Most people who came here already knew they were dead, so she wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. After a moment of consideration, she decided it would be the best to tell the truth. “Yes, I’m sorry to say that you are.”

The girl looked down sadly, “I guess that’s why it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“What doesn’t hurt anymore?”

Adeline shrugged, “All over.” Komachi frowned and continued to ask questions. After a few minutes she had learned that Adeline had been sick for several months and was supposed to die in a few weeks. Her family was taking her to get baptised when she died.

“I don’t think you have much to worry about now,” Komachi told her, “the Yama usually always judges children kindly.”

Adeline smiled up at her and they shared a hug when they reached the other side of the river. As she turned the boat around, the river shortened and Komachi began lazily rowing back across the water. When she arrived back she saw a melancholy spirit of a teenage boy sitting and looking at some nearby flowers.

Komachi approached him and when he turned around he was startled by her scythe. “I never expected it to be that big…” he muttered.

He stared at the shinigami for a while before she finally spoke up, “Hey c’mon, I’ve got a job to do. Maybe we can try and talk while we’re crossing the river?” Trying not to to seem too intimidating, she offered a friendly smile and a hand to help him up. He took it nervously and shakily stood, following Komachi to the boat. The river became longer, but not nearly as long as it did for Adeline.

There was a moment of silence before the boy spoke up, “Am I dead or is this just some fucked up dream or something?” Komachi looked at him, slightly surprised because she had not expected him to speak to her on the trip.

“Well yeah, you’re dead. Why’d you have to ask?” She continued paddling and they reached about the halfway point.

“Well, after I was… attacked, I kinda passed out and I wasn’t sure what happened.” The boy looked slightly confused, as if he could not gather his memories into a coherent pile.

“Do you know who attacked you?” She decided this would be the safest question, to maybe help him figure out what had happened and give him a sense of closure.

“There’s been some stories on the news about people being attacked after dark. I was going on a quick run to the store. I thought I was taking a safe road, but I guess I was wrong.”

Komachi nodded, that made sense and she stated as such. They continued to make small talk until they reached the other side of the river. The boy waved goodbye and Komachi once again traveled back to her original position.

She was able to grab a quick nap before the next spirit arrived.

Komachi was suddenly awoken by the sound of sobbing. She looked up to see a woman sitting among the flowers, head in her hands. Walking over, Komachi called out to her, “Hey, c’mon. There’s no use in sitting around crying. Let’s get you across the river, yeah?"

“No!” The woman yelled and jumped up, jerking away when Komachi reached out to her. “There is no way in this goddamned world that I’ll ever come with you! I’m not dead! I swear I can’t be dead! I have two more weeks to live! I was supposed to… have two more weeks to live…” Near the end, the woman slowed and began to sink back down to the ground and the tears began to flow harder, if that was possible.

Somehow, Komachi got the woman to get on her boat and she began rowing. The river grew to be a few yards shorter than it did for Adeline as she eased the woman’s name out of her.

“Magdalene. You know, as in Mary Magdalene? My father loved looking into different religious beliefs and was just… enraptured by the story of Mary Magdalene being Jesus’ wife.” Magdalene’s voice trailed off as she thought fondly of her father.

“He must have been a wonderful man,” Komachi supplied.

“Oh, he still is. He’s been a wonderful grandfather to my children and since I don’t have any husband or siblings or anything, I was planning on leaving them to him. Y’know I never did get to finish writing my will, but that was the very first thing I wrote down. I hate that I’m leaving my children behind, but at least they’ll be in the most capable hands I know of.”

Komachi did her best to agree with the woman, allowing her to let out her last sorrows before she would be judged and have her fate sealed for eternity.  
When they arrived, the woman was hesitant to leave the boat. After Komachi told her that she should do it for her children, however, she was far more willing. Once again, the shinigami began the short voyage back across the river.

When she arrived on the bank, she saw an old man standing, waiting patiently for her. He waved politely, almost happily, and made his way over to her.  
“Hello, young miss! I’m guessin’ you’re the one takin’ me across this here river to the afterlife?” He was unusually cheerful, most people were unbelievably sad when they realized they were dead, like Magdalene and the teenage boy before her.

“Hello. Yeah, that’s me. You seem ready so you better hurry and c’mon before reality really sets in.” The man did what he was told calmly.

As Komachi began rowing across the river once again, the length grew farther than she had ever seen it. Even with young children who needed the situation to be explained to them, she could still at least see the other end; this time, however, the end was far out of sight, shrouded by distant fog. This man must really not get what’s happening.

As they began to talk, Komachi surprisingly found that the old man knew good and well what was happening. He introduced himself as Leif Andresen and threw himself into a ‘brief’ retelling of the most important parts of his life. Komachi listened patiently, expecting the entire ride to be like this.

“The day I met my wife...” he trailed off, “at the time I thought it was the worst day of my life. It was all bright and sunshine-y and I woke up thinkin’ I was gonna have a great day. But then, that same day, my mother found out my father was cheatin’ on her and they got into a big old fight. They filed for divorce the next day. I went out of the house, thinkin’ that there was no real love anywhere in the world. I met a girl feedin’ the pigeons in the park, lookin’ just as upset as I felt. I tried to make conversation, but she told me to make myself scarce around her. I did and ended up locked up in my room all afternoon. I even cried myself to sleep that night.”

Komachi was silent and the other end of the river came into sight, she had never had spirits tell her anything so personal.

Despite her silence, Leif Andresen continued his story. “But lookin’ back now,” he told her, “It was only a small part of my life. So many amazin’ things happened to me throughout my whole life that it’s hard to believe somethin’ as bad as that was ever a part of it. And my Greta and I, we got married and had the most wonderful life together. It just goes to show that you shouldn’t base your beliefs off of one little thing that happened to you."

They were reaching the end of their ride and Komachi looked at the man, wondering how he would end his speech.

“And y’know what? Life is such a beautiful thing, there’s no reason that it shouldn’t be enjoyed to the fullest. It’s so sad that things such as depression exist in this amazin’ world. I understand how hard it is to deal with, but I hope that someday, feelings like that won’t exist anymore and everyone’ll be able to enjoy the life they were given to the fullest. Every life is beautiful and when they come to an end, it’s not sad. No, I believe their life should be celebrated for the amazin’ thing it was.”

They reached the end and he got off, tipping his hat at Komachi, “Thank you for the ride, miss, and be sure to enjoy your life too, no matter how borin’ you might think it is.” And with that, he left.

Komachi began heading back for the fourth time that day, but this time the river did not shorten as much. She spent this trip thinking over everything Mister Leif Andresen had said. Maybe this job wasn’t as boring as she thought it was, especially when she got to meet people like him.


End file.
